The pair couldn’t stand the sight of each other once upon a time but the Sunderland boss today leapt to the defence of his Arsenal counterpart ahead of Sunday’s match between the two clubs at the Stadium of Light.

The Gunners look on course to maintan their record of qualifying for the Champions League in every season Wenger’s been in charge.

But some fans want him out after Arsenal’s title challenge came unstuck this year.

Allardyce is baffled by the criticism.

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“That’s rather unfair to a man who’s arguably got the best record as a manager that Arsenal have ever had”

Sam Allardyce

“He’s a brilliant manager,” he said. “I can understand the frustration that they’ve slipped up by not winning this year.

“But he keeps getting this stick year in, year out.

“That’s rather unfair to a man who’s arguably got the best record as a manager that Arsenal have ever had.”

Allardyce, however, will be quite happy if Wenger’s on the receiving end of more stick on Sunday afternoon following a Sunderland win.

He believes his side need three wins from their remaining five games to avoid relegation.

And he’s told his players the quickest route to salvation is by servicing top scorer Jermain Defoe.

“They know you have to play a certain way to get Jermain on the end of it,” said the Black Cats’ chief.

“He’s the man who scores more goals than anyone else, and converts more chances than anyone else.

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UNLIKELY ALLY: Allardyce has defended long-time nemesis Arsene Wenger

“The rest of the team have a responsibility to score and get chances for themselves, but they also have to know that he’s the main man for us when it comes to scoring goals.

“So try to feed him in and around that box as much as you possibly can.

“From that point of view, with 16 goals in all competitions this year, he’s proved to be very successful.”

Jeremain Lens is a doubt after missing training through illness but Allardyce expected DeAndre Yedlin to recover from an ankle knock.